Steering gear



"July 5, 1932. c. E. RYMES 1,865,966

STEERING GEAR Filed Feb. 18, 1931 v In. I i 26 W/W/ 27/; E

mine. I jfizwniar Patented July 5, 1932" UNITED STATES cnEIs'rorHEE E. nYMEs, or LEXINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS, assre v'onpro Enson mAnir-l FACTUR-ING CORPORATION, E Eos'roN.'MAss cnUs 'rrs," a CORLBOBATION or MASSACHUSETTS STEERING GEAR jApplication filed February 18,1931. seriarno. 516,627.

The present invention relates to marine steering gear. V I

In marine steering gear of the screw type which is in common use for small craft, considerable diflicultyis often encountered in assembling the gear on the rudder post. The entire gear is lowered onto the'rudder post and since the top of the rudder post is not usually in a conveniently accessible position, it may be a matter ofconsiderable trouble to insert the key or other means by which the rudder head is secured to the post.

' The object of the present invention is to provide a simple and rugged steering gear which has provision for convenient attachment to or removal from the rudder post.

With this object in view, the present invention consists-of a steerer having a separable rudder head, a part of which is adapted for convenient attachment to the rudder post without the necessity forhandling the remainder of the equipment. head may thus be firmly secured to the rud-. der post by a blind keywayor by other suitcertain novel features of construction, combi-,

nations and arrangement of parts hereinafter described and particularly defined in the claim.

In the accompanying drawing, Fig. 1 is a plan view of the preferred form of steerer embodying the features of the present-invention; Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the steerer shown in Fig; 1; and Fig. 3 is a detail'view on line 3--3 of Fig. 1.

The illustrated embodiment of the invention comprises a'double screw 4 of the usual form provided with both right and left hand threads indicated at 6 and 8 serving toactuate the traveling nuts 12 which are received thereon. One end of the screw is journaled in a bearing 14 and the other end is provided with a keyway 16 toreceive the. steer- 50 ing wheel. The wheel end of the screw The rudder able attaching means, afterwhich the oper-' passes through a bearing 18 mountedonithe rudder. head; which is indicated generally; at

20. The nuts 12 are connected-by links 22* and24 to opposite. sides of-the rudder head, whereby upon rotation of the-'screw,thenuts travel in a directionltorotate the rudder head. Becaus'e of the un-equallength ofxthe arms 22 and 24 in the: particular construction shown, there is necessarily a compensating longitudinal movement of the screw which is permitted'by the bearings 14 and 18. The? construction thus far described is a common type of steering'mechanism useful oncraft" of small and moderate size; 2 I Therudder head'20 which is attached tor the rudder post 26 comprises two separableflanged. members, namely, Ia lower member. 28 adapted for attachment to therudder post and an upper member 30'which is connected to and rotated; by the screw. The upper,

member30 is provided at opposite sides with;

bosses .32 upon which theends of the links 22 and-.24 are plvoted. Connected between the bosses is'aweb 34 which is provided: at

.the center'With an opening to receive: a stud 36 projecting upwardly from the bearing 1 block 18'; Asis usual in such steerer constructions, the bearingblock 18 has axdownwardly projecting stud which is received in an'opening 38 in the top of the rudder head.

" The lower flanged member-28 of the rudder head comprisesa sleeve portion 40-havingani internal; diameter of the proper size to be;

received on therudder post.- The rudder post and the sleeve 40,areformedwithlregis tering" keyways to receive the key 42. (As shown in Fig. 3, the key'way of the shaft-ter-t minatesimmediateIy blowithe end of the sleeve in order that the key may be securely retained in position. The member 28 is formed with a flange 44 which is attachedv directly to a flange 46 of the upper member. by a plurality of bolts 48. The upper mem-v ber 30 is provided with a central boss 50 which is received in a central recess of'the lower flange member. thrusts imparted by the links, 22 and 24 are not exactly balanced, the boss 50 serves to relievethe stress on the attaching bolts 48.

This is a particularly desirable featurenot Inasmuch as the only in a's teerer of the type shown in the drawing,'but also in the single screw type which applies an unbalanced thrust to only oneside of the rudder head. V a

In asembling the'steerer, the lower 'part 2 8 of th ejrudder head is fittedon the rudder post. The key 42-is forced into the registering keyways, thus firmly securing the'rudder head to the shaft. The entire steerer is V t now mounted on the flanged member 28 and the two flanges 4:4 and 46 are secured together by the bolts 48; Since the upper part of the rudder 'head completely covers the shaft, a blind keyway is provided which as- 7 sures against loss or accidental removal of the key. It will be seen that ifan attempt is made to provide a blind keywayin a steerer of the ordinary type, considerable difliculty' is met with in assembling'the apparatus on the rudder post.

. The present inventionis not to be consideredas limited to a construction in which the rudder head is keyed to the rudder post. In constructions employing wood rudder posts wherein the connection between-the post and the head'is ordinarily made through cooper-i ating lugs or projections,the present inven-.. tion also offers the same advantages in that the lower flange of the rudder head maybe conveniently attached to the post before as-. sembly of the remainder of the gear. In its broader aspects, therefore, the present invens tion contemplates a separable or two-part rudder head, thelower part of which has provision for secure attachment to the rudder post and the upper part of which may there after be securedto the lower part, forming a means for transmitting motion from the actuating. mechanism to the rudder. 7 Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is In marine steering gear, the combination I p with screw actuating means of a rudder head having separable? upper and lower flanged members, a link'conneoting the screw with the rudder head, one having a boss received in a recess of the other to take the unbalanced thrust of the link, means for attaching the lower member to a rudder post, and means for securing the flanged members together after attachment ofthelower member to the rudder post. I

- i CHRISTOPHER E. RYMES. 

